After more than two decades of living in near obscurity, the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer has been apprehended by Japanese immigration authorities for allegedly trying to leave the country without a valid passport.

A United States Embassy official in Tokyo confirmed that Mr. Fischer was detained at Narita airport today. Japanese news reports said Mr. Fischer could be deported to the United States, where he faces charges for violating an American economic sanctions order against the former Yugoslavia by playing an exhibition match there in 1992.